The
following are excerpts from an arbitration award [via
21cpw.com]
that documents abuse of a clerk by postal inspectors in Clifton,
AZ. The Union grieved under Article 2 and 17 of the National
Agreement and got $50,000.00 in damages. APWU was represented
by Steve Zamanakos, National Business Agent, Denver Region.
The arbitrator ruled that the Inspectors violated "Art. 2.1
& Postal Bulletin 21826: their conduct on May 27, 1999 created
a hostile work environment for the Grievant. They also violated
Art. 17.3, the MOU, a Step 4 Decision, & Inspection Service
protocols by denying the Grievant representation. [Postal
Inspector }Dent violated ELM provisions when he interjected
himself into the [OWCP] CA-1 process. The Agency failed to
adequately supervise the Inspectors, failed to cooperate with
the Union during the grievance process and failed to investigate
the Grievant’s sexual harassment claim in violation of Postal
Bulletin 21826." |

"A Postmaster’s pay will increase
by the percentage earned through the Pay-for-Performance Program.
The change to the minimums and maximums of all EAS grades
will be 2% for FY08 and FY09, and 2.25% for FY10 and FY11.
This is significant in light of the fact that the Postal Service
is mandated to operate under the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The average increase to a Postmaster’s pay last year was about
5%. The raise to the minimum in EAS grades was the first in
about 10 years. From 2008 through 2011, the Postal Service’s
contribution to a Postmaster’s Federal Employee Health Benefit
Program will be reduced by 1% per year. This is in line with
the reductions experienced by craft employees through their
contracts negotiated this year."Details of Pay Package
|

Authorities are trying to find
out who shot Jack the Chihuahua. A witness told Greer police
that a U.S. Postal mail carrier shot the dog outside the Greer
residence on Tuesday, according to a police report of the
incident. From the way that the neighbor described it, he
basically pulled out an air rifle or a BB gun of some kind
and just shot at the dog until my dog started yelping," said
Tiffany Gorseth."
|

The Postal Service is amending
two provisions in title 39, Code of Federal Regulations, to
correct an outdated citation to a superseded Executive Order.
No employee while on property owned or leased by the Postal
Service or the United States or while on duty, shall participate
in any gambling activity, including the operation of a gambling
device, in conducting or acting as an agent for a lottery
or pool, in conducting a game for money or property, or in
selling or purchasing a numbers slip or ticket.|

A letter carrier lives
in a modest house that is listed as the address as one of
the biggest sources of campaign donations to Presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton (D-NY).The six members of the Paw
family have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates
since 2005 according to election records. The donations closely
track donations made by a wealthy New York businessman in
the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address
according to the Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street Journal omitted key information in article|

A Davidsville man was jailed
after he allegedly threatened to open fire at the Boswell
post office when his wife, an employee there, said she was
divorcing him, authorities said. In a criminal complaint,
Conemaugh Township police said James M. Stevanus, 39, of South
Main Street, became angry when Michelle Stevanus told him
she was filing for divorce. Stevanus threatened his wife and
her co-workers Thursday, saying he would take a gun to the
post office and “take you all out.” |

Distressed residents falling
under an ongoing request by Postmaster Tim Sullivan to install
curbside mailboxes were able to discuss one-on-one their concerns
at the Fredonia Village Board meeting Monday. Residents questioned
the reasoning, authority, and manner in which the change was
ordered. “I don’t stand to gain, or the post office doesn’t
stand to gain very much, if anything, economically by implementing
this,” Sullivan said. “I went as a safety issue.
|

According to Poughkeepsie City
School District officials, an unknown number of this year's
school tax bills were damaged or destroyed by sorting ma-chines
at the Poughkeepsie Post Office. This is the second year in
a row the post office's machinery has jammed up on the city
district's tax bills, Wilson said. Tom Gaynor, spokesman for
the New York Metro Area U.S. Postal Service, said the problem
with the tax bill mailer is thickness. "The envelopes are
very thin," he said. "The fact they are so thin may be a problem.
|

Book will highlight unusual
stories from Letter Carriers Across America. Letter Carrier
Kate Drury and former mail carrier Lois McNutty are collecting
offbeat stories , cartoons and photos of unusual mailboxes
from letter carriers for a book. According to the website:
"We need your stories. We are the only people who still visit
each house in America every work day. We observe neighborhoods,
talk with customers, and perform our job in all kinds of weather.
We have a unique view of life in the United States and each
of us has a story or two to share. Proceeds will go to PERF
- Postal Employee Relief Fund - which benefits Postal Workers
in times of natural disasters." |

At least
two cities in Southern California - Torrance and Redondo Beach
- are reviewing their laws governing vicious dogs following
this week's brutal mauling of a Torrance letter carrier by
a pit bull. Both cities will soon conduct hearings into violent
incidents involving pit bulls; in Redondo Beach a "potentially
dangerous dog hearing" that's open to the public is set for
Monday at City Hall. Meanwhile, fellow employees of letter
carrier Moon Choi, whose condition is improving although he
remains hospitalized, held a blood drive Friday at the main
Torrance post office."
|

(Texas) It is now possible to
mail packages and letters in the George A. Purefoy Municipal
Center. Ken Richards of Little Elm will be running the city
hall Contract Postal Unit. He retired after working for the
post office for 39 and one-half years and decided that he
had to have a job again.
|

Six million people know the experience:
You order a DVD from the Netflix website and a day or two
later it appears in a red paper envelope. You watch the movie,
mail it back, and soon another disc arrives. This cycle happens
in America 20 times every second and 1.6 million times every
day, making Netflix, the movie-rental company, a veritable
postal service within the postal service.
|

At 74 years old, he's still going
about his appointed downtown rounds. Recently, friends, family
and colleagues gathered at the Midtown Post Office to congratulate
Williams for all his service. He is credited with introducing
the nationwide letter carriers' food drive to the Mobile area
about 13 years ago, postal officials said.
|

Victoria Shaffer, a letter carrier
was issued a notice of removal for threatening to
kill her co-worker/former married lover. The co-worker
called the Postal Inspection Service while on his route, reporting
that Shaffer had threatened him. He stated: After a 1 ½ year
relationship things got ugly today on my route. Vicky [Shaffer]
parked behind my truck at 4th and Clark. When I got out of
my truck and turned around, she grabbed my shirt, kissed me,
and said, “why did you do it?”[2] I replied, “I don’t know.”
She said, “I don’t understand.” I said, “I don’t either,”
and turned around and walked away. She got in her car and
left. A few minutes later she pulled up to the curb, rolled
down the window and said, “Next time I’ll put a bullet in
your head.” Shaffer filed a gender discrimination suit against
the Postmaster General. According to federal court documents
the case was recently dismissed. |

Frisco postal customers who have complained
about stolen gift certificates, opened greeting cards and missing
checks could soon see the arrests of those responsible. U.S. Postal
Service investigators say three postal workers stole mail at the
North Texas processing and distribution center in Coppell. |

The Windy Hill community is petitioning
the U.S. Post Office to reconsider pulling home mail delivery to
nearly 600 homes and businesses because of dog attacks. Earlier
this month cluster boxes were installed at several locations making
home mail boxes useless. |

(Alabama) The FBI arrested Bridgett Cardall Hooks, 35, Thursday, and
unsealed an Aug. 15 indictment alleging she extracted the money
from the account of the American Postal Workers’ Union, Local
332, during a period of 14 months when she was the union’s
secretary/treasurer. According to the indictment, Hooks wrote
herself checks from the union checking account and made improper
purchases and withdrawals with her union debit card between Oct.
31, 2005 and Dec. 3, 2006. The total amount of money believed to
be embezzled is $10,820.17.|

A small trucking firm awarded
multimillion contracts with the U.S. Postal Service owes its
drivers nearly $1.4 million in back wages, the Labor Department
said this week. Alan Berman Trucking, based in Woodland Hills,
Calif., is accused of pay violations on at least eight
government contracts worth $10 million to haul mail for post
offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the agency said.
DOL Press Release|

In an overwhelming
vote of 51 to 9, on Aug. 17 the National Postal Professional Nurses
(NPPN) voted “YES,” in favor of merging with the American Postal
Workers Union. Pursuant to the APWU Constitution, the nurses will
become a part of the Support Services Division. The NPPN has had
collective bargaining agreements with the USPS since 1978, with
its latest contract expiring on Aug. 17. The APWU will represent
the NPPN at negotiations, which are set to begin Sept. 18.
|

It took Edwin Cherry a lifetime to
amass his collection of thousands of stamps that could be worth
more than $1 million, according to his family. Less than two
weeks after his death, it is gone. According to a profile
interview with Cherry published on Sept. 23, 1999 in The Yuma
Daily Sun, he was a former U.S. Postal Service employee who
commemorated American history through his collection. |

Police have taken a Albuquerque, NM
U.S. Postal Service employee Andrew Barka into custody after finding
stolen mail at his Rio Rancho home. Police swarmed the man's home
around 8 a.m. Wednesday, and found what they expected, three stolen
cars, but that is when the local investigation turned into a federal
investigation. Investigators removed several boxes full of mail,
and Federal Investigators confirm stolen credit and debit cards
were found in Barka's home |

Valassis Communications Inc. sells
coupons, but it may be Valassis's shares taking a big discount
if it doesn't show payoffs from a recent acquisition. Buying
direct marketer Advo Inc. -- a lengthy, contentious purchase
that closed in March -- was supposed to broaden Valassis's
coupon business as a price war with competitors and shrinking
newspaper sales eroded profits. But Advo's business turned out
to be weaker than expected, and the early disappointing results,
coupled with the deal's hefty price tag, have weighed on
Valassis's shares. The company's market capitalization has been
sliced in half over the past year to less than $500 million.
|

"Given that our national union
agreed to make casuals a permanent part of our workforce and
this decision was ratified by those voted for the contract, when
are we going to start pushing to make them members of the
bargaining unit? In light of the fact that the National
Association of Letter Carriers’ tentative agreement will convert
casuals to TEs, I am deferring making a final decision on
organizing casuals until we can discuss the option of
negotiating their conversion to TEs."|

On October 23, 2006 Arbitrator
Philip Tamoush awarded $12,799,200.00 to Mail Handlers in
Phoenix, AZ and $100, 800.00 to NPMHU Local #320 for lost union
dues. Mail Handlers received payment from the ‘casual in lieu
of’ settlement agreement on August 10, 2007 (Pay Period 16) .
|

Company Tests Popcorn Vending
Machine at NJ Postal Facility- Pop N Go, Inc. announced the test of its popcorn vending machine program with
the U.S Postal Service at their South New Jersey Processing and
Distribution Center. Frank Collepardi, President of Franco’s
Snacks, stated, “We service over 1,000 employees in this center
and based on the response to Pop N Go’s popcorn machine we are
looking forward to expanding into many other facilities.”
Personnel from other postal centers are planning to visit this
South Jersey location so they can witness the popularity of the
Pop N Go machine.|

Police say a 14-year-old pulled the trigger. "He was in a
truck delivering mail to a post boxes on the roadway, and while
he was doing so felt a stinging sensation in his cheek looked
up, didn't know what it was, saw some blood dripping down,"
Captain Dennis McBride of Ferguson Police says. A bullet or
pellet is now lodged in the carrier's nasal canal, he's resting
while police and postal inspectors are investigating the crime
and try to find out why someone was shooting at the mail truck.
The 52-year-old postal carrier told News 4 that he's had the
same postal route for 17 years and never had any problems.
|

A postal worker in Laclede County
is dead after his delivery truck was swept off a bridge by
rushing floodwaters. Sheriff Richard Wrinkle says U.S. Postal
Service officials became concerned after 51-year-old Steve Allee
of Stoutland didn't return from his rural route Monday
afternoon. Searchers found Allee's body more than a mile
downstream from his vehicle and the bridge. |

U.S.
Postal Service officials announced Monday that they have
scrapped plans for a proposed nine-acre mail processing facility
near the city's northern gateway, following two weeks of heated
opposition from residents and city leaders. The Postal Service
will now focus on a 26-acre parcel of land in Aliso Viejo at 50
Liberty Road, Maher said.|

August 19, 2007-

Letter Carrier Charles McCann was set to retire shortly after Hurricane Katrina, but returned
instead to deliver mail to the entire Lower 9th Ward. "Who else is going
to know these streets?" he said. From the un-air-conditioned cab
of his clackety mail truck, McCann measures New Orleans'
recovery not by Sheetrock sold or coats of fresh paint applied,
but by envelopes delivered and mailboxes erected. |

The
Phoenix Metro Area Local has just received the arbitration award
regarding the “Kelly Girl” case. An arbitrator has awarded the
Phoenix Metro Area Local APWU nearly $20 million ($19,717,431.00
plus $128,142.74 in lost union dues).
Arbitrator Henderson ruled the Employer violated the Collective
Bargaining Agreement when it hired over 200 “Kelly Girl”
employees to work at the Phoenix Telephone Center in April 1996.
The Center remained open for just over 3 years. The APWU argued
the Telephone Center should have been staffed by Level 6 Phoenix
Clerks. The arbitrator agreed with the Union.
Payout not to exceed $9,694 will be made individually to 2034
Clerks.
|

This letter written by Robert
Lind, NALC Branch 34 President in direct response to the recent
article,
“Mail Route Shuffle. " Management may control the data
inputted and the end result but not the actual delivery of the
mail. After all, it’s the letter carrier who is faced with the
task of providing service to our local patrons. The dismantled
Arlington letter carrier route’s delivery time has now been
disbursed amongst the remaining Arlington routes. Those in
postal management responsible for this smoke and mirrors facade
may look like heroes on paper but it’s the overburdened carrier
routes and customers that pay the ultimate price. Management’s
bonuses should be paid out as penalties to those adversely
impacted by this charade of supposed necessary changes." |

William Kendrick of Grandview was sentenced today to five
years probation and six months home detention for embezzling
from the American Postal Workers Union Local No. 238 in Kansas
City, Kan. Kendrick also was ordered to repay the $26,235.94 he
took from the union. Kendrick, who was the local’s treasurer from
April 2003 through August 2004, pleaded guilty in May to one
count of embezzlement. He admitted that he and the local’s
president, Dwayne Giles co-signed checks from the union’s
checking account payable to Kendrick. They also made payments to
Kansas Payment Center to satisfy child support owed by Giles.
Giles has pleaded guilty [ to embezzling over $11,000 ] and is
scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1. |

At the Aug. 8
meeting of the United States Postal Service board of governors,
chairman James C. Miller III was back at the podium wearing a
blue uniform shirt similar to those worn by Postal Service
workers. But something was different this time. He was sporting
an employee name tag, which he had not been able to get from
Postmaster General John E. "Jack" Potter previously. "A New York
team came through," Miller explained, as he showed off his name
tag inscribed "Jim." |

Maria Lemos, 45, was honored Wednesday
by the office of Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, for
using the Heimlich maneuver on a co-worker who was choking. On May
31, Lemos was at work as a postal supervisor in Huntington Park
when she found clerk Latisha Keyes gasping for air. She did not
realize Keyes was choking until the woman clutched at her arm and
started changing color. ". An 18-year postal worker, Lemos grabbed
the other woman and started applying the Heimlich maneuver as she
had seen in the movie "Miss Congeniality."|

PRC Proposes
Ratemaking Regulations
The Postal Regulatory Commission has published proposed regulations
to implement a modern ratemaking and classification system
for market-dominant and competitive mail products." The commission’s
goal is to make this new system of rate adjustment advantageous
for all stakeholders, enabling the Postal Service to price
its own products, ensuring the lawfulness of competitive rates,
providing increased transparency, and maintaining universal
service at affordable rates,” the document said. “Fulfilling
these objectives requires that competing interests be carefully
balanced.
Order Proposing Regulations to Establish System of Ratemaking
(PDF)
|

A 10-Year postal worker in Bladen
County is in jail on charges of mail fraud.45-year-old Brenda
Lewis worked at the post office in Clarkton. Authorities say
she stole personal information, medications and even graduation
money from envelopes. Lewis was initially arrested on embezzlement
charges, but was arrested again when law enforcement found
stolen drugs at her home. Lewis is in the Bladen County jail
on a more than $1 million bond and is facing local and federal
charges.
|

The Mexican government signed
an agreement with the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday aimed
at improving Mexico's notoriously inefficient mail agency.
Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said the Mexican Postal
Service, or Sepomex, has been neglected for years, while the
USPS is "an example of modernity, efficiency and quality."
USPS Press Release|

Ask President Burrus:
APWU Health PlanWhen I first read that the USPS
will pay 95 percent of healthcare premiums for APWU-represented
employees enrolled in the APWU Health Plan, I thought, “What
a smart move.” I loved the ingenuity. As I read further, I
became disappointed to learn it was for only the APWU Consumer
Driven Plan. I also thought this was in violation of the resolution
we passed recently in Philadelphia. |

Seeking
suppliers who are experts in Statistics - The supplier
will provide the U.S. Postal Service Law Department professional
services to evaluate Postal Service responses to requests
for information from postal unions to determine (a) the frequency
that the Postal Services receives such requests (b) the mean
and median lengths of time for supervisors/managers to respond
to requests; (c) the completeness of responses; and (d) related
matters as may be requests. The supplier will also determine,
if possible, why responses take more than 14 days in some
instances. The supplier will also provide professional services
to evaluate the Postal Service responses to determine (a)
the number of such requests; (b) how often such requests are
satisfied (i.e., granted or not granted); and (c) related
matters as may be request. The services will consist of consultation,
analysis, a written report and /or testimony before judges
and /or arbitrators. |

FSS
will reduce city carrier work load by 85 per cent. Three-fourths
of city carrier volume is flats, most City Carriers spend
2 hours in office and 6 hours on street with 30 minute fixed
office time break. FSS will reduce office time and increase
street time. The Memorandum of Understanding included in the
USPS, NALC proposed contract agreement states "FSS Implementation
that stipulates that once FSS is fully implemented in a delivery
unit, management will determine the methods to estimate the
impact of FSS and adjust routes accordingly."See video of FSS in action, photos, deployment and other
information.|

Worker complaints up at post
office in VirginiaThe work environment
at the Harry J. Parrish Post Office in Manassas has disintegrated,
according to carriers, clerks and union representatives. And
they don't want to take it anymore. Their anger stems primarily
from what they see as a hostile work environment in which
confrontational supervisors and an overly demanding postmaster
have intimidated and bullied a large percentage of the work
force. "There are impossible deadlines being forced upon carriers
and clerks each day, causing many to skip lunch and regular
breaks to avoid reprimand. "I [Former carrier Matt Wright]
told a supervisor before I left that in a year in Iraq, I
was treated with more respect and dignity than when I was
at the post office," Wright said. |

-
A former New York U.S. postal worker admitted in federal court
this morning that he defrauded the federal government out
of $392,000 in workers' compensation payments over the past
16 years. David P. VanDeusen, 56, pleaded guilty to fraud
in obtaining workers' comp benefits. VanDeusen went out on
workers' comp in 1991 with a back injury he says he suffered
on the loading dock at the U.S. Postal Service's distribution
center on Taft Road. To collect workers' comp, he had to sign
a form every year saying he was not collecting income from
another job or a business he owned. He admitted in court that
he falsely claimed he had no other income. |

NAPS - "On August 7, 2007,
the US District Court of the District of Columbia granted
the USPS motion for summary judgment based on the NLRB’s clarification
decision excluding the AMS Specialist position from the bargaining
unit.In short, the court ruled that the February 2007 National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Award (that the AMS Specialist
position is excluded from the bargaining unit) supersedes
(based on “Superior Authority”) the arbitrator’s placement
of the position and therefore makes that decision unenforceable."
|

The
Postal Service charged the supervisor with giving employees
credit for time not worked in order to reward them for their
speed and efficiency. The second charge also related to the
Supervisor’s actions regarding time and attendance records,
both his own and those of his subordinate employees. Whelan
was also charged with improper access of the Times and Attendance
Control System (TACS) in order to add or manipulate the clock
rings of letter carriers by using the passwords of two supervisors.
Although an administrative judge reduced the removal to a
demotion, MSPB reversed the decision and sustained the initial
removal. The Federal Court upheld MSPB's decision.
|

NALC Asks Members "Who Should BE President"
“This election will
be important for all Americans but especially for letter carriers,”
NALC President Bill Young said. “The Postal Service continues
to face serious challenges, and we cannot leave to chance
the political leadership that will either help our employer
face the future or hamper our efforts to survive and thrive
in the 21st century.” To help assess the presidential contenders.
To help assess the presidential contenders, the NALC Legislative
and Political Department in late May sent a questionnaire
to all declared Republican and Democratic candidates -- at
the time, 10 Republicans and seven Democrats. The questionnaire
noted that candidates' responses to the questions "will weigh
substantially in considering NALC support." |

Bird droppings are everywhere -- on the sidewalk, on garbage
cans, even the solar lights in front yards are covered. Residents
said their stretch of Potomac Avenue in one part of Southeast
D.C. is filthy. Aimee Mavragis said it has to be a health
hazard. And it seems the U.S. Postal Service agrees. Last
week, mail stopped coming to homes there. Mavragis said her
postal carrier told neighbors it's because all the droppings
on the sidewalk are unhealthy. |

Automated Postal Centers targeted
by credit card thieves- Armed with at least 27 stolen
credit-card numbers, federal prosecutors say, Artem Danilov,
Stephan Melkonyan and Karapet Kankanian fraudulently purchased
more than 3,200 books of stamps worth nearly $24,000 from
Seattle-area post offices in just more than a week. A federal
grand jury Thursday charged the men with an assortment of
crimes. The illegal stamp-buying scheme appears to be a novel
breed of identity theft, one that blends high-tech thievery,
online commerce and the retro currency of the U.S. mail. Customers
used to be able to buy dozens of books of stamps per transaction
from the automated postage machines, but the Postal Service
has since limited the number to try to fight such fraud. The
Postal Service has uncovered illegal stamp-buying schemes
in Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Colorado. |

by Charles Guy - Apparently,
the Postal Service would prefer to cave in to union demands
rather than confront the long-term challenges of its burgeoning
labor costs. USPS also capitulated earlier this year in its
negotiations with the American Postal Workers Union, its largest
union. By all accounts, the NALC achieved a major coup for
its member. Meanwhile, the Postal Service has reportedly proposed
in its negotiations with the National Rural Letter Carriers
Association (NRLCA), to establish a locality-based pay system,
under which carrier pay would vary based on their geographic
location. |

(Missouri) The U.S. Attorney's
Office says 57-year-old Janet Elliott of Humphreys, the town's
former postmaster, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded
guilty to a charge of fraudulently issuing money orders. Elliott
admitted that, from Sept. 27, 2003, through Sept. 7, 2006,
she issued 185 money orders without having paid the full amount
of money for them. Elliott generally issued personal money
orders to pay creditors, household bills. The total loss incurred
by the U.S. Postal Service during the three years Elliott
fraudulently issued money orders was $21,442. In addition
to those 185 money orders, which were for Elliott’s benefit
or for her mother’s benefit, Elliott reported 103 customers’
money orders late. |

(Wisconsin) Kathy Schroeder,
a U.S. Postal Service carrier for 13 years, saw "some dollars"
near some bushes near a walkway on Friday. Schroeder said
she did not count the money, which was later learned to be
$685.Schroeder took the money to the Delafield Police Department.
|

Residents in Oceola
Township's LakeShore Pointe subdivision were buzzing once
they found out their mail service was suspended after their
carrier was stung for the second time in a week in their community
by a yellow jacket wasp.|

An Aurora woman said the United
States Post Office has failed her daughter, who is serving
in the Persian Gulf, because attempts to send a care package
have ended in frustration. Natalie Plotkin claimed she got
no help and rude treatment when she tried, more than once,
to send the care package out to her naval officer daughter
overseas. |

the Boston district’s retail team has developed a creative
twist to boost its Mystery Shopper scores. The district recently
launched a contest based on Monopoly ...Retail associates
who participate in the contest collect game points based on
their mystery shop score. “This will help employees understand
that excellent customer service is the object of the game,”
District Manager Charles Lynch said. “The only way to win
is to pass Go, which happens when the clerk earns 100 percent
on a mystery shop.” When the contest ends on Sept. 30, the
retail area with the most points wins a trophy, a gift certificate
and complimentary coffee and doughnuts — not as big a deal
as buying Park Place, but worth the effort.
|

A mailman fired
a year ago for refusing to deliver to a Jackson couple is
back on the job. An arbitrator reinstated letter carrier John
Boehmke, without back pay, but with his 11-year seniority
in tact. Arbitrator said Boehmke, the Jackson post office
management and customer Pete Varga were all "partially at
fault." Postal managers in Jackson condone discarding some
third-class mail and delaying some deliveries of first-class
mail, and told Boehmke to hold Varga's mail while the complaint
was addressed, a violation of policy. |

Since the Sun-Times reported
that people in 38 of 50 wards had complained about mail to
their aldermen, the Postal Service says it: Hired, trained
and assigned 246 new letter carriers; Overhauled about 63
percent of its letter processing machines; Had postal inspectors
walk all 2,464 city delivery routes and corrected more than
143,000 address discrepancies; Launched community advisory
committees at post offices in neighborhoods with the most
trouble. |

District postal manager points
finger at city, city councilors and postal employees -
In explaining mail delivery problems in Rio Rancho at a town
hall meeting Tuesday morning, Albuquerque district postal
manager Victor Benavides blamed Boniello personally and the
city in general for approving confusing street names and subdivisions
without proper infrastructure. But Benavides also had other
arguments to explain the mix-ups. He blamed both a lack of
training and employees he could not fire. While he did not
give details on what training was needed and who was responsible
for providing it, he was clear on difficulties he said the
post office unions place on dismissing employees. Benavides
said, "When you work in a government business like we do,
it takes an act of Congress to get rid of someone." |

Reports Net Loss of $659 Million for Third Quarter
- National on-time performance scores for the delivery of
First-Class Mail were at all-time highs in the third quarter
of fiscal year 2007 for all three of the categories the Postal
Service tracks. Also during today’s Board of Governors meeting,
Chief Financial Officer H. Glen Walker said revenue for the
third quarter totaled $18.4 billion, up 2.9 percent from the
same period last year. Expenses for the quarter totaled $19.1
billion, including $878 million that is attributable to the
implementation of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement
Act, signed into law the end of last year. The result was
a $659 million net loss for the third quarter.
Overall mail volume still up despite rate increase|

NALC: Agreement
ballots in the mail Ballots were placed
in the mailstream beginning August 6 to 217,505 NALC active
letter carrier members in good standing as of April 13, 2007
and must be received by the Ballot Committee by 11:59 p.m.
on August 27 in order to be counted. |

Some of your mail may have disappeared
-- not at the hands of thieves but at the hands of law enforcement.
Since 1994, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has destroyed
more than 20 million pieces of mail, a practice that continues.
The service hopes it’s protecting people from getting scammed.
We've been working with Customs to seize suspicious letters
coming through borders to the United States mail stream,”
said Postal Inspector Dan Taylor. It's all in an effort to
protect people from foreign lottery scams aimed at stealing
thousands of dollars. |

Diagnosed with
kidney disease at age 18, Postal Clerk Debbie Pastor's condition
gradually worsened over the years until last year, at 54,
she needed dialysis and, as soon as possible, a kidney transplant.
Her boss at the U.S. Postal Service in Jamestown, Randy Sherrick
offered her one of his kidneys after a June 2006 meeting.
Sherrick said he has always taken a ‘‘people-first’’ approach
as manager. ‘‘You can make decisions that are tough and business-like
but at the end of the day, people are all that matters. The
best resources are humans, not machines.’’|

A former California
[SF] Bulk Mail Center (BMC) Supervisor pled guilty in U. S.
District Court to one count of Theft of Mail on May 8, 2007.
The investigation by Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special
Agents began last year after postal managers discovered 10
to 12 opened Amazon.com boxes with missing contents. The parcels
were received in an open condition from the California BMC.
OIG video surveillance showed the BMC supervisor stealing
electronic items from the mail. In searches of the supervisor’s
residence, Special Agents recovered hundreds of electronic
items determined to be stolen from the mail. The estimated
retail value of the items recovered is approximately $40,000.|

(Michigan) Workers,
politicos decry shift to Pontiac facility - Nearly 150
Flint postal jobs could head south under a plan revealed to
local employees. The proposal by the U.S. Postal Service calls
for up to 148 clerk, maintenance and mail handler jobs to
move to a new processing center slated to open in May in Pontiac.
The new $224-million facility in Pontiac will consolidate
mail from Genesee County all the way to northern metropolitan
Detroit, though some local mail officials question how much
money the proposed arrangement will save. Don Kister, president
of National Mail Handlers Local 307, which represents about
60 workers at the Flint center, said the decision to keep
a Royal Oak center in a rented space that costs more than
$1 million a year erases any savings. |

The Postal Service
continues to implement Phase 2 of the National Reassessment
Process (NRP) in USPS Districts across the country. There
is no set schedule that establishes a date when a particular
District will begin Phase 2. Every USPS
District should have already implemented Phase 1 of the NRP,
which is the “information-gathering” phase. When a District
completes this initial phase, they contact Postal Service
Headquarters to seek approval to move forward into Phase 2,
which is the “interview and decision-making phase.” |

USPS notified APWU on August
2, 2007 of its intent to remove all stamp vending machines
within the Western Area by September 2008. The removal of
the stamp vending machines will impact Clerk and Maintenance
craft employees who service the machines. |

I have asked Congress
through my testimony both in the House and in the Senate to
pause on any floor action until the close of the 6 month moratorium
on outsourcing related to the Article 32 Committee. I believe
at that time NALC will be in a much better position to offer
our guidance on whether a legislative fix is needed or not,
and if so, what it should entail. In the meantime, I ask you
as activists to continue to educate your members of Congress
on the dangers associated with contracting out and encourage
them to co-sponsor H.Res 282 and S. 1457. |

"The
United States Postal Service is seeking information on beginning
a Priority Mail Service Care Package program that would allow
customers to send selected items to military personnel, college
students, campers, the elderly, and others. These Care Packages
will be supplied, packed, and shipped by interested companies,
and target marketed to military personnel, students, campers,
and their families via the U.S. Postal Service web site (www.usps.com)."
|

More than 100 want restitution
- Four days after a Seattle law firm accused the U.S. Postal
Service of selling the personal information of employees without
consent, more than 100 postal workers have come forward saying
they want restitution. But for now, postal employees just
have to "sit tight," said Steve Berman, managing partner of
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. The firm filed the lawsuit Monday,
and it's not likely to go before a judge for certification
until fall. If it's determined that the Postal Service has
violated federal privacy policies, all postal employees could
be compensated for so-called "junk mail" that shows up in
their mailboxes with the Postal Service logo on it. Postal Employees
Cry Foul Over Alleged USPS Privacy Violations|

The U.S. Postal Service is asking
for the cooperation of its unions in holding down costs if
it is to avoid contracting out work, Postmaster General John
Potter said last week. “The only way we’re going to be successful
… is to have all 700,000 people in the Postal Service begin
to focus on revenue,” Potter said at a July 19 hearing on
postal outsourcing held by the House Oversight and Government
Reform subcommittee on the Postal Service. While postal
unions and some congressional Democrats remain opposed to
almost any outsourcing, Potter said postal managers, when
asked to cut costs, need the discretion to outsource functions.
|

"In a rush to redesign
its nationwide network of facilities, the Postal Service acted
on several misguided and poorly rationalized assumptions,
a Postal Regulatory Commission official told Congress in late
July. In testimony before a House of Representatives subcommittee,
John D. Wailer also cited a lack of consistency in how proposed
consolidations are reviewed; a failure to develop criteria
for approval or disapproval of proposed consolidations; a
failure to seek public input; and "severe tardiness and errors
in analysis in post-consolidation reviews." |

Postal
Service Targets Southern California Land for New Mail Processing
Center - The United
States Postal Service is interested in purchasing 75 acres
in San Juan to build a 15 acre mail processing facility in
an area targeted by city leaders for possible open space acquisition.
The postal service wants to construct a 418,000-square-foot
facility, along with a 375 stall parking lot, according to
a memorandum from Bill Huber, a city consultant. Operations
at the facility would take place around the clock, with 300
employees on site and at least 200 truck deliveries taking
place daily, the memorandum said. San Juan Capistrano is a
city located in southern Orange County, California, located
approximately 23 miles southeast of Downtown Santa Ana.
|

(Ohio) 133
pieces in trash were undeliverable, she said -After a substitute
postmaster took over last winter, some people in Harrisburg
began to notice that they weren’t getting all their mail.
Federal agents say it’s because she was throwing it away,
and now she’s in trouble with the U.S. government. Elizabeth
T. Simonian, 49, is accused in federal court of pitching mail
into the trash at the post office in May. Some of her customers
say she was fed up with the way the mail was addressed. Simonian
told postal agents she threw away only mail that was not deliverable
or that had been left at the post office with no forwarding
address. |

Return
to Sender: Mail Scattered on InterstateAtlanta:
"There was an absolute mess on a crowded metro interstate.
Thousands of pieces of mail and unopened credit card applications
with names and addresses in plain view were scattered all
over Spaghetti Junction. A contractor hauling undelivered
junk mail from the North Metro Post Office facility in Duluth
overturned, spilling envelopes everywhere. The credit card
applications were never delivered to the addressee, but they
sat on the side of the interstate unattended for at least
a couple of hours. Channel 2's John Bachman spoke with the
post office spokesman. He told us the mail was all junk mail
and had no value." |

The Postal Service cannot ensure
the timely processing, dispatching, and delivery of Standard
Mail if it is not properly colorcoded. Additionally, the Postal
Service cannot readily track service standards to ensure compliance.
Without a date and time on the tag, the Postal Service cannot
determine whether employees processed Standard Mail using
the first in, first out (FIFO) method. In addition, when an
operation does not meet its clearance time, facility managers
cannot determine what role the arrival time played. Also
Area Mail Processing Initiation Process |

Charles Lynch, 56, became the
city’s postmaster in 1991, after 19 years with the Postal
Service. Part of his duties were to monitor the inventories
and keep accounts and records of stamps and money in three
stamp vending machines — two at the Absecon post office and
one at The Store’s machine in Galloway Township. He admitted
in court Tuesday that in the first half of 2005, he entered
false entries into the accounts and records of stamps put
in The Store. The loss to the post office was more than $30,000
but less than $70,000, he said. |